American academic (1865-1953).
William L. Bray (September 19, 1865 in Burnside, Illinois–1953) was a botanist, plant ecologist, biogeographer and Professor of Botany at Syracuse University. He was the first dean of the New York State College of Forestry at Syracuse University, from 1911 to 1912. In 1898, Bray received his PhD from the University of Chicago. In 1907, he was made head of the Botany Department at Syracuse, and in 1908 started teaching a forestry course in the basement of Lyman Hall. Dr. Bray was an associate of Gifford Pinchot. In 1911, in addition to assuming the deanship of forestry he organized the Agricult